Beast: The Hunter and the Hunted

By Josh Nuttall (sctasca@altavista.net)

Description

     Beast is a generic term for several distinct monstrosities. There are
     only one hundred known and it is believed they are the attempts of
     spirits to reside permanently in the physical world. The first beast
     was known as Pitt; he was also long ago known as the Storm Eater (see
     Werewolf: Wild West). He learned a practice from observing the fae and
     their process of placing their souls inside a mortal body. After years
     of practice, he finally found a host for his seed. He found himself
     dormant until the boy hit puberty, when he snapped from learning that
     he regenerated at an incredible speed and almost doubled body mass
     when angry. Pitt was a mild case. It has been said that no two beasts
     will ever look the same as in theory, no two spirits are identical.

Mark of the Beast: Powers of the Beasts

     All beasts have found themselves to possess remarkable abilities as a
     result in the spirits lying dormant in their flesh. Powers are
     determined largely by personality. Some fears might make you weaker to
     certain things or the same fear might make you become part of one
     (e.g., an arachnophobe might end up being drastically allergic,
     causing all spider bites to do three health levels aggravated damage
     or he might end up as a spider/human hybrid). Fascination usually
     leads to having the subject become a part of you (e.g., I like fish;
     they look cool and it's a catch phrase of mine. I might become a giant
     fish with human arms and legs or I might just find myself able to
     breathe under water). Storytellers should decide one of two methods:

       1. Have the player make up the character and then he/she may decide
          appropriate powers and weaknesses to balance out the character
          and still be based on merits and flaws.
       2. Have the player make up the character then the Storyteller gets
          to make up powers and weaknesses.

     Only trusted role-players should use option 1.

     Sample powers include, but are not limited to:

        o 6 inch claws on all fingers or spikes protruding from the hands
          and forearms.
        o Immunity to fire, water, disease, knock out gas, etc.
        o Increased attributes.
        o Cause the Delirium in humans.
        o Becoming twice as tall as usual with about four times the body
          mass (add a couple extra health levels).
        o Infrared vision.
        o Mechanical limbs.
        o Any appropriate gifts, spheres, disciplines etc....
        o Aggravated damage (as in claws and teeth).
        o Allergic to any substance (it causes aggravated damage).
        o The ability to sense the supernatural (Perception roll).
        o The ability to sense other beasts (no Perception roll).
        o Absorb characteristics of matter through the skin (this gets
          complicated as your character will almost never look, feel, or
          have the same powers and weaknesses). The digestive process
          breaks down absorbed matter within five to six hours. It takes
          about two minutes to completely absorb one pound of any substance
          except you can't absorb flesh. If you take this you shouldn't
          take any others.

Sign of the Beast: Powers all Beasts Have

     All beasts regenerate one health level per turn unless that health
     level happens to be aggravated damage.

     All beasts will have a natural tendency to feel uncomfortable when
     exposed to vampires (basically +2 on all difficulties can be used to
     track them). This stems from the fact that most beasts that have died
     so far were killed by vampires. Pitt has learned how to stem abilities
     to all his "children."

     All beasts are kleptomaniacs when it comes to silver. The ones that
     weren't killed by vampires met their maker to werewolf rages.

     All beasts have Rage pools equal to the number of points they took in
     flaws minus three.

     All beasts can maintain a human and battle form. Difficulty to change
     is 6 on a Primal Urge + Stamina roll.

     All beasts begin with a humanity as ruled in Vampire.

     All beasts begin with five Willpower.

     All beasts can step sideways at will with no necessary roll.

     All beasts also have blood pools of five to begin play.

     Any clever gamer would have noticed that beasts picked up an ability
     to help defend against their natural predators but they also picked up
     a trait of their predators. This is due to the fact that werewolves
     and vampires are strong, they survive easily. Thus the beasts have
     sped up the evolutionary process to where they can almost pick and
     chose their current gifts and abilities. This is why no two will ever
     be likely to be alike as these necessities are a matter of perspective
     and no two people will ever look at the world the same.

Character Creation

     Chose your nature and demeanor as usual then pick attributes 7/5/3
     then abilities 13/9/5 then backgrounds.

     Available Backgrounds include Allies, Contacts, Mentor and Resources.
     After Backgrounds, decide on Merits and Flaws, then spend 15 freebie
     points. Finally, decide your powers based on your Merits, Flaws,
     Concept and abilities. After that give yourself a classy name like
     Pitt or Nightshade or Monster Magnet or Kilgore and you'll find
     something that has a shred of dignity.